First Blog

Should researchers ethically responsible for the misinterpretation or misuse of their research by others? Absolutely not.   If you charge ethical responsibility for the misinterpretation or misuse of their research by others, then you face the possible regression backward in time of similar charges. For example, consider the computer chip.   It has been misused by Huawei for spying, by the military for ordnance guidance systems, for AI, and other nefarious purposes. This in turn forces charges against inventors of Internet type transmissions ( Vinton Cerf  and  Bob Kahn), the integrated circuit (Jack Kilby), the transistor (John Bardeen), the electron tube (John Ambrose Flemming), to the discovery of electrons (J.J. Thompson), and ultimately to the discoverer of electricity (Benjamin Franklin).   You could even go back to the notion of the atom (Democritus in 400 BC).   Where should we stop? Who should decide? The only possible case possible is research that may only be u

Today, we are discussing all those cameras being placed all over our cities.   Officials tell us it's for our protection.   Citizens are worried. Movements are afoot to reduce this camera presence.   Is it justified?   Remember, its not just the picture, it what comes with it. Pictures plus a thousand words?   Artificial Intelligence (AI) can put together your picture with all your personal data. Subversives should be nervous.   So should we all. Dossiers for all. In the West we need to trust our government to restrain its natural instincts to use any information they have to stay in power.   The comes to ethics, and ethics is rapidly becoming a theoretical subject, a historical artifact, a quaint quality. Deprecated at last review.     I don’t care what your politics.   Can you say with certainty your party would not use this information to track political opponents in looking for damaging information?   Like the old song, “Simply Irresistible.” Want more?   Enter the h

The journalism student must learn a broad curriculum.  How to write, how to research an article, making a headline with punch, verifying sources, and ethics of reporting are traditional elements of the training.  Today there is more.  Call it afta-graduate school. The modern reporter must ask many questions: Is grammar really that important when I have a deadline to meet? Does the story fit the narrative of my news agency? Are there distractions that will gain more attention from our salacious readers? How can I integrate my personal or agency views into my story? Is it important to verify a source when I know in my heart it is true? How can I used selected truths*? Is there a method to enhance my career with semi-fallacious, but essentially correct reporting? How can I create or infer derogatory views as actual news?   Hint.   Hypotheticals are easy. There is more to modern news than just the news. * https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141204125055-53504664-the

Trolley problems – revisited   This is a problem, an impossible problem,   purported to conflict with our moral system, which is only a part of one’s belief system. It is a part of how we solve problems.  See,http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2013/02/problem-solving-your-marvelous-brain.html and recent writings on impossible problems in this blog. The original problem is due to Philippa Foot who devised the Trolley Problem in her article "The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect" (1967) . You are at a railway switch high above the tracks, with the ability to route the oncoming train to one route or exactly one other.   You cannot stop the oncoming train.   On, say route A, there are five people basically tied to the tracks, meaning they cannot move from their current position.   On, say route B, there is but one person in a similar situation.   Whichever route the train follows, either five people or one person will die.   However, you can select